Darden voice for underdog - Wayne-Wilson News Leader, Fremont, NC

17 January 2008 — Tommy Darden will be the first to tell you he’s no politician. But nonetheless, after a somewhat chaotic bid for election to the Stantonsburg Town Council, he is a representative for citizens in the arena of small-town politics.

This past summer, Tommy began thinking about running for the board after the town council approved a 10 percent rate hike for electricity services in the city limits. Something about the decision didn’t sit right with Tommy, and he voiced his concerns as a citizen during several board meetings.

“I just don’t see where it’s fair to anyone,” he said.

So when the time came to file for candidacy in July, Tommy went to the Board of Elections and filed as one of six candidates for the two council seats on the ballot.

Upon running, Tommy said he wanted to be a voice to represent what he called the “underdogs.”

“Somebody needs to represent the retired people and the working man in this town,” he said.

And apparently when voters went to the polls on Election Day, they agreed – well, sort of.

When unofficial returns were reported, it appeared that Tommy had won one of the seats by one vote. An official count put Tommy one vote ahead. Incumbent Hubert Tyson had a clear lead for the other available seat.

But things got a little tricky when a provisional ballot, validated by the Wilson County Board of Elections, was counted in favor of Ken Horne, who had previously been one vote shy of Tommy’s count. The election for the seat was tied in a dead heat.

That’s when the Board of Elections had to decide how to break the tie. The conclusion involved gathering the two men to draw straws, determining the winner.

Tommy then took off his baseball cap, and ended up drawing the shorter of the two straws, conceding the seat to Mr. Horne with a handshake.

But things didn’t end there.

Councilman Bill Edmundson, who had been elected mayor, had vacated a third seat. At the first meeting of the new board, Tommy was appointed to fill the seat.

As of right now, the 67-year-old retiree said he doesn’t quite know how he feels about serving on the board.

“It’s going all right so far, but it’s only been one meeting,” he said. “You’ll have to get back to me on that.”

He jokes that he thinks he might like sitting around arguing a whole lot more than he enjoys sitting in meetings.

Though this is his first time on an elected board, Tommy said he’s had another brush with small town politics. Several years back he was asked by the retiring sheriff in Dare County, where he worked as a Lieutenant, to run for the office of Sheriff. But Tommy said it just wasn’t a role he saw himself in.

“I didn’t want to live in Nag’s Head for the rest of my life,” he said.

So after another man ran and was elected sheriff, the new leader fired all of the current deputies and hired new staff.

“I guess that served me right, “he said. “So I came on back home to Stantonsburg.”

Tommy had originally left his hometown of Stantonsburg to enter the military. After his service was up, he served as a motorcycle officer in Greenville. Before going to work as a lieutenant in Dare County, Tommy also worked for the DuPont plant.

After he came back home, he worked at Merck Pharmaceuticals in Wilson until he retired.

Tommy is divorced, and has one daughter and two grandchildren. When he isn’t busy serving his town, he says that he is into a little bit of everything.

One of his main hobbies is riding his motorcycle. He also has three Jack Russell terriers that keep him company and provide entertainment around his home.

Though Tommy is not a politician, he has somehow managed to acquire the position to help his town and fellow citizens through a position on the town council. His honesty and ability to examine issues from the average citizen’s viewpoint could go a long way in helping to achieve his goal of a board that serves all the citizens of the town.

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Issue of 17 January 2008

Wayne Wilson News Leader
113 N. Wilson St., PO Box 158,
Fremont, NC 27830
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